The Man in the High Castle: Excellent Concept, Frustrating Finish
The Man in the High Castle is a four season, 40-episode series that was released on Amazon between early 2015 and the end of 2019. It’s a show with a great concept that’s loosely based on a 1962 Philip K. Dick novel.
The series is set in a parallel universe where the Allies lost World War II. It’s now the 1960s and America’s territory has been divided by Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. The Nazis control most of the old United States with the capital of the American Reich being New York City and the Japanese rule over the Pacific states.
The story centers on a woman named Juliana Crane who lives in Japan-occupied San Francisco. She comes in possession of a tape with the potential to change everything. The tape shows seemingly impossible footage of the Allies winning the war. It’s an exciting and unique setup that I really like.
Amazon executives also had high hopes that The Man in the High Castle would become their biggest series ever. Unfortunately, behind the scenes issues hampered the production. After a strong start viewership and buzz-wise (and lots of money being put behind the show for seasons 1 and 2), the series had a two-year wait between the second and third seasons. The show also had a different showrunner for each of its seasons, something that would lead to someone with a different vision at the helm of the series for each of its years.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the first three seasons of The Man in the High Castle. When looking at the 30 episodes (10 per season) that make up these three seasons, it’s never a fantastic show, but it’s still a very good, above average one. I’d probably rate these seasons somewhere around a 7/10 or 8/10.
The main strength of the show is its unique dystopian setup. If you’re a fan of alternate history-type shows, concepts don’t get much better. There are also a few really interesting characters, with the most compelling of the bunch being John Smith, a high-ranking Nazi in New York. Smith might seem completely evil at first, but he’s an ex-American soldier and there are more levels to him than you at first suspect.
Unfortunately, the drop-off between these episodes and those that comprise Season 4 is extreme. Season 4 is, quite frankly, a disaster. I just think that by this point in the show’s run Amazon had cut the budget drastically and put in charge someone who had no idea what to do with the story or its characters. They knew they wanted to wrap things up and have a final season, but, wow, did they go about it poorly.
Season 4 introduces a bunch of new characters and storylines, all of which are bad. While the first few episodes are likely the worst of the bunch, and the middle of the season is slightly better, none of it compares to the earlier seasons. It sort of devolves into a show where you can’t even really think about the circumstances too deeply because none of it makes much sense. It’s watchable, albeit barely. I’d grade this final season around a 3/10.
This makes an overall recommendation for The Man in the High Castle difficult to make. It’s great when you have a complete series with 40 quality episodes to watch. But what do you do when you’ve got 30 quality episodes and 10 subpar ones?
I think that if you’re accepting of the notion that you’ll enjoy the first three-quarters of the series and don’t mind a weak ending, definitely give The Man in the High Castle a watch. Having 30 good, solid hours of TV to watch certainly counts for something.
I’m mixed with my overall feelings of the show. I suppose I’d say that the enjoyment of the first three seasons still made the show worth watching to me, despite how poor the final season was, but not by much.
Grade (Entire Series): 6/10